Homeowners in upcoming sectors along the under-construction Northern Peripheral Road (NPR), also called the Dwarka Expressway, have a reason to cheer. The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) has awarded the contract to lay water pipelines along the link road.

Work on the
30-kilometre-long project, which would cost about R176 crore, will commence anytime later this week, a senior Huda official said. A reputed Hyderabad-based private infrastructure firm, Sai Sudhir Limited, has bagged the contract. Through the pipeline, Huda has plans to connect Sectors 58-115 to the newly-developed Chandubhudera Water Treatment Plant.

"A separate intermediate pumping station, in addition to the ones currently functioning at Sector 16 and 51, would be constructed at Sector 72 for distribution of treated water," said the Huda official.

Construction work is expected to be complete in two years' time and about 66 mgd (million gallons daily) will supplied to the upcoming sectors.

At present, one water supply plant at Basai has a capacity of about 60 mgd. In the next two years, Huda will supply 126 mgd from both plants in total.

The new sectors (Sectors 58-115), which will an extension of the fast-growing Millennium City, currently lack all basic amenities such as roads, drainage, sewer connections and water supply lines.

"People who have invested money in the area have faced disappointment for the past five years. Slow progress on Huda's part had led to delays," said a senior member of the national real estate developers' council (NAREDCO), adding that the water pipeline news is a breather.